Monday will be decision time for the Commerce City Council.
The council is expected to vote on the hiring of a new city manager at its 6:30 p.m. meeting at the Commerce Civic Center.
“The council will make the decision Monday,” confirmed interim city manager Tom Berry.
The finalists are:
•Carl Rowland, who has worked for Decatur County and the City of Thomasville, where he served as chief finance officer.
•Matthew Chancey, of Athens, who serves as interim city manager for Monroe.
•Peter Pyrzenski, who has served as city manager of Waycross, where he managed a $20 million budget.
According to Berry, the council has reached a consensus on the man who will succeed Clarence Bryant after almost 20 years, and Berry said he’s begun preliminary discussions with that candidate. The details will be included in an employment contract the council will also approve Monday night.
“It will basically outline his salary and any benefits that might be special, his terms of employment,” Berry said. “The basic agreement might be a year, after which he would be evaluated and might sign another agreement for the next year.”
When the city advertised for the opening, it offered a pay range of $85,000 to $110,000 — plus benefits.
Berry said the contract will also include an exit strategy should the candidate not work out, something he said is expected in contracts with city managers “because it may be that they haven’t done anything wrong, but get crosswise politically and get fired.”
As the interim city manager, Berry’s primary responsibility has been to oversee the search process.
“This process, while it has been long, has been really good,” he said. “The council has worked so hard on getting the right person. Their preferred candidate is going to fit in very well. They have really done a good job with this process.
“They’ve looked at a lot of people, more than most cities do. They ended up with a really good choice.”
